Journal Club

    Dr. Shah gave a concise review of the Nimmagadda, et al article. This study found that preoxygenation should be performed whenever there is an anticipated interruption of O2 delivery such as in high risk patients, before and during awake fiberoptic intubation.
   Dr. Kim gave an excellent review on the article by Min et al. The study found that administering neuromuscular blockade before checking mask ventilation may increase mask tidal volumes and shorten the time to intubation during induction of general anesthesia in patients with normal airways. There were larger tidal volumes during mask ventilation and earlier tracheal intubation in the early rocuronium group than in the late group. Some limitations were the small sample size and the fact that timing of NM blockade may be important in patients with difficult airways; these patients were excluded for reasons of patient safety.
   The third article by Lewis et al was reviewed by Dr Taft. He gave a detailed talk and showed that currently there is no evidence for videolaryngoscopy reducing the number of intubation attempts or the incidence of hypoxia. There was also no evidence that the use of videolarngoscopes affects time required for intubation.